# Habanos S.A. freezes all cigars.



## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Just read in the April 2011 edition of Cigar Aficionato that all Habanos S.A. produced cigars undergo freezing treatment to prevent a tobacco beetle infestation.

(Page 137)


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## canuck2099 (Oct 13, 2010)

I believe that this has been the case for sometime now. However, having visited some factories in Cuba i still think freezing them yourself is a good idea. Standards and processes are not quite the same and adhered to as much as in some other countries. Whilst on the whole I think Cuba produces the best quality cigars, quality control IMHO is not the best ( ie some cigars may be frozen, others not and others for not long enough ?)


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## Cromag (Mar 13, 2011)

I would have to agree with Scott (although I've never been to Cuba). I'd just rather be on the safe side if I was paying that much for a box of cigars.


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Discussion of Habanos, their cigars and practices is not allowed in the General forum.

MOVED


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## JGD (Mar 2, 2009)

I'll believe it once I hear it from someone who has personally seen the gigantic freezers.


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## bpegler (Mar 30, 2006)

JGD said:


> I'll believe it once I hear it from someone who has personally seen the gigantic freezers.


Really this is old news.

But since HSA gets labels and boxes wrong, I'm with the better safe than sorry crowd.


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## aea6574 (Jun 5, 2009)

I have been converted to the freezing crew. If they freeze them great, but I think my doing it again will only help make sure that they are all good.

Better safe then sorry or something like that.

Best regards, tony


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## Rodeo (May 25, 2009)

This is indeed old news. But. Given the infrastructure, equipment, logistics and energy that would be required to freeze million and millions of cigars every year, I just have a hard time believing it. I've never read a first hand account of anyone that has seen a freezing operation, and certainly never seen pictures.


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## Tritones (Jun 23, 2010)

Why do I get the picture of bearded men in fatigues pointing guns at a bunch of cigars and shouting, "Freeze!"


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## Coop D (Oct 19, 2008)

Better to be safe then sorry!!!


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## Rodeo (May 25, 2009)

Ok, I take it back. From an October 2006 article in CA:

_Cuban-cigar merchants are declaring death of the tobacco weevil following a visit to a new, massive storage and quality control center in Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana.

I visited the complex last week with English cigar merchants Jemma Freeman, head of Cuban cigar importers Hunters & Frankau, and Edward Sahakian, owner of London's Davidoff shop. The 90,000-square-foot building is a temperature- and humidity-controlled building for holding all cigar stocks for export. It has a capacity of about 70 million to 80 million cigars. Habanos S.A., the global distribution and marketing company for Cuban cigars, runs the facility.

The showpiece of the building is four massive freezers where export boxes of cigars are frozen at minus-4 Fahrenheit for five days and then slowly brought to a temperature of about 65. Cuban officials claim that this process completely kills any insects as well as eggs in the tobacco. The freezing is an added measure Habanos has taken even though cigar factories continue to fumigate smokes before they leave their doors.

"This should be the end of weevils as we know them," said Freeman with an enthusiastic smile, after visiting the giant freezers.

Let's hope she is right. There is nothing worse than finding boxes of fine Cuban cigars with weevils having a party inside. Their tiny holes make cigars unsmokable. Once they are in one box and busy at work, they are almost impossible to eradicate. The Cubans say that they can process about 4 million cigars at a time.

Cuban cigars are shipped abroad in thick cardboard boxes that hold on average about 40 individual boxes. It's these shipping boxes that are placed on large racks in the freezers and then frozen.

Freezing of cigars has been a time-honored process for many cigar lovers, who have been afraid of the ravages of the tobacco weevil. Some cigar merchants were already freezing cigars themselves in recent years. Moreover, once the beetles attack cigars, they can be killed by putting them in your freezer for a couple of days.

In the facility's quality control center, finished boxes of cigars are opened and evaluated for quality. This is why you may sometimes see Cuban cigar boxes with double seals on them. A supervisor said that 70 percent of all Cuban cigar boxes are opened and checked for quality, which includes tests for humidity as well as visual and manual evaluation. That figure seemed incredible to me, especially when the supervisor said that only 18 people work there - but my arithmetic has never been very good.

Regardless, Habanos is obviously serious about quality. And the days of the tobacco beetle in Cuban cigars seem to be numbered with the new freezing process._


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

bpegler said:


> Really this is old news.
> 
> But since HSA gets labels and boxes wrong, I'm with the better safe than sorry crowd.





Rodeo said:


> This is indeed old news. But. Given the infrastructure, equipment, logistics and energy that would be required to freeze million and millions of cigars every year, I just have a hard time believing it. I've never read a first hand account of anyone that has seen a freezing operation, and certainly never seen pictures.


_I also have a very hard time believing it. Especially since i have seen beetles eat through a box ox Partagas Salomones from 08. They cant even get the 2nd sticker with the bar code right all the time. Imagine something as massive and time consuming as freezing!_


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## Tarks (Mar 3, 2009)

In all my trips to Havana I have never seen a single freezer. I have asked and have been given funny smiles. Not saying they are not freezing but just saying...


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## bpegler (Mar 30, 2006)

If we read a story one day about an American citizen from New York being found in a freezer in Havana frozen to death surrounded by huge piles of cigar butts...

And his first name is Tony...

Then we'll know the stories are true.


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## Tritones (Jun 23, 2010)

bpegler said:


> If we read a story one day about an American citizen from New York being found in a freezer in Havana frozen to death surrounded by huge piles of cigar butts...
> 
> And his first name is Tony...
> 
> Then we'll know the stories are true.


Hahahahahahahaha!

:bump2: for you!


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Geez i hope they mix my ashes with some really good Cuban cigar ash!!!!!
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


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## bpegler (Mar 30, 2006)

TonyBrooklyn said:


> Geez i hope they mix my ashes with some really good Cuban cigar ash!!!!!
> :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


A Vikings funeral!


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## Tritones (Jun 23, 2010)

TonyBrooklyn said:


> Geez i hope they mix my ashes with some really good Cuban cigar ash!!!!!
> :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:





bpegler said:


> A Vikings funeral!


Maybe Keith Richards would smoke you on stage ...


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